Out of Sight, In the Shadows
by Mathais
Summary: Light BL. In the midst of the second war, two former, forgotten officers of the Archangel reflect on the things they are seeing and hearing as they remember just how they got to where they are and what they can do to help.


Title: Out of Sight, In the Shadows

Author: Mathais

Rating: T

Fandom: Gundam SEED Destiny

Warnings: Light BL, possible AUness but anything's up for grabs with these two characters, definite spoilers for every event in the Cosmic Era timeline up to around Phase 40 of Destiny, crack pairing.

Pairing: Sai/Kuzzey (Crack pairing! I feel like only BL pairing Sai would fit in in canon would be with Kira.) and slight Sai/Kira-ness

Summary: In the midst of the second war, two former, forgotten officers of the Archangel reflect on the things they are seeing and hearing as they remember just how they got to where they are and what they can do to help.

Disclaimer: The characters, mecha, etc. of Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny do not belong to me. They belong to their owners. I'm just playing around with them, making no profit.

**OoOoO**

"Things are getting bad, aren't they?"

There was an affirmative sound, accompanied by a soft, "Yeah."

"Do you think...?"

"...that they're involved?"

"Yeah."

"I wouldn't put it past them. They've... _You've_ fought too hard for that peace for them to **not** fight to bring it back."

"We **all** have," quietly corrected the first.

"I didn't do much." Self-deprecation in the second's tone.

"You were kind—that's what we needed."

"Maybe, maybe not."

There was a quiet silence, broken only by the quiet murmurings of the news. All it told was of battle, though neither of the two wholly trusted the media, even in one of the few remaining "neutral" countries such as the one they were in.

"Did you eat dinner yet, Sai?" the second voice asked, half-standing.

"I did," the blonde teen answered, making the other sit. He paused, leaning back against the couch they were sitting on as he readjusted his glasses. "Did you hear from Miriallia at all? She would probably know some things that the mainstream media wouldn't have or show."

"Maybe. I haven't exactly checked the messages on the account that Miriallia has," the other admitted. He reached over, a slender hand grabbing the laptop and placing it on his lap. After a few minutes, his fingers were flying over the keys, pausing finally when he found what he was looking for. "Wow, she..." He wordlessly held up the screen, flipping through the pictures.

"Looks like the Archangel **is** back in action," commented Sai. His eyes widened when more pictures arrived. "Kuzzey, is that..?"

"Freedom?" completed the teen. "Kira's fighting as well."

"But Freedom was pretty much destroyed in the battle in Jachin Due," Sai insisted. "It also uses a Neutron-Jammer Canceller!" It didn't need to be said that, in the aftermath of the last war, the NJCs had been banned.

"They could have rebuilt it," countered Kuzzey as he scrolled down the letter. "Desperate times call for desperate measures... Or they replaced," he broke off, letting out a shocked gasp, almost dropping the laptop from his legs. "Miri!"

"What?" Sai anxiously looked over the Kuzzey's shoulder, eyes rapidly searching for what had troubled the other teen. "She's back in active service on the Archangel!"

"No way... She's fighting again." Kuzzey looked at the ground, unable to raise his gaze. Sai placed a reassuring hand on the other teen's shoulders, noting that they were shaking. "Why do I feel like even more of a coward?"

"Don't say that," Sai suddenly snapped harshly, bringing Kuzzey's eyes to his. "Don't you say that! Like I told you two years ago, you're too kind for war and that's not a bad thing. That's very good!"

Kuzzey slowly lowered his head onto Sai's chest, a few tears escaping his eyes. "I'm scared for them. I don't... I don't want them, any of them, to die, even if you and Miriallia have been the only ones that I've kept in contact with."

"See, you're kind," Sai smiled as he left himself trace Kuzzey's cheek with a finger. "I'm scared for them too, but Orb joined with the EA and I doubt that Cagalli would have done that if she still had power. If Captain Ramius and Kira and the rest are fighting, they're doing it as a third party again, so it'd be dangerous for us to even contact them, even if we knew their whereabouts."

"Yeah," agreed Kuzzey to the logic, though he didn't move from Sai's chest or mind the strokes of his finger. "Remember about seven months after..."

"...after you left?" asked Sai softly and the other teen flinched, though slightly.

"Yeah, after I left and you came here?" The "here" that he was referring to was a small nation in the Asia area that held no strategic advantage for either ZAFT or the EA, so it was able to remain neutral and open to both Naturals and Coordinators. It was small enough that they could live in relative peace and had become, in a way, what Orb had been in this current political climate.

"I remember." Sai wrapped his arms around Kuzzey's smaller frame, his mind thinking back to that time.

**OoOoO**

Sai blew on his hands, wishing that he had remembered to pack, or at least buy, some gloves. Living on Heliopolis where the climate had been controlled had not prepared from for the unpredictability of Earth's weather.

It was damn cold as he stepped out of the airport, grimacing. He had decided to stay far away from Orb after the initial few months, blocking out the memories of his time there. A small nation aligned neither with the EA nor with ZAFT seemed like a good place.

It was here that he could start his search.

Miriallia had pulled him close not long after he had announced to his family and close friends (the latter of which basically amounted to everyone that he had regularly dealt with on the Archangel) that he was going to travel around, despite being in his teenage years, and had seen through to his intentions immediately. She had left him with one line, saying, "If you find him, you have to tell me, got it?"

He promised, though his heart ached that Kira had not said the same. The two retained some shard of their old friendship, but Kira was too distant, have changed and evolved so much from their beginnings such that he wasn't sure they lived in the same world anymore.

Other times, it seemed like he forgot that Sai existed.

Kira hadn't even given him a goodbye. In some ways, it stung, especially when he was nursing a hopeless crush on the other teen. They were—had been—so alike that they could have been two facets of the same person, Coordinator and Natural, but different all the same, even beyond that line. When Kira had been lost and then came back, Sai had seen a change in the teen he knew, had seen within him something that made him almost completely give up on the crush. Maybe, at one time, the feeling had been mutual, but now...

He had fallen in love, though he hadn't quite realized it yet. With Athrun Zala or Lacus Clyne, he didn't know, but it was now clear that while he may still hold those feelings...

Kira didn't.

He may have been running away, but it was all he could do.

When he got to his hotel though, he had a reason to seethe.

"I made my reservation for this day and the following three days!" He shouted, slamming the palms of his hands on the counter. "My name is Sai Argyle!"

"And, I'm sorry, but we don't have a reservation for a Sai Argyle in our database," snapped the receptionist. "We current have no vacancies and you are holding up the line. Please leave."

The blonde teen grumbled as he gathered his bags and left the hotel. He currently had no place to stay and the rest of his stuff was coming in the next day.

This royally sucked.

Because he was so distracted, he never noticed that someone was walking in front of him. Or, rather, he crashed into them and fell into a pile.

"I'm so sorry!" Sai apologized as he sped to gather his things, helping up the other person without even looking at them.

"No prob—Sai?" The blonde teen immediately looked up at the mention of his name.

He then realized that perhaps he wouldn't have to search long.

Or at all.

"Kuzzey!" He dropped all his bags once again onto the concrete once he saw the familiar brown eyes, still smiling the old smile. Black hair still in the wide cut, he recognized the slightly taller version of his friend. "You're here!"

"Yeah, I **live** here. The question is, why are _you_ here?" The long-lost former member of the Archangel crew paused before shaking his head. "This isn't the place to talk though. You have a place to stay?"

"The hotel lost my reservation," Sai grimaced.

"Then stay at my place. I live alone, and my apartment's for two people."

Before Sai realized what was happening, he was following Kuzzey to an apartment building not too far from where they were.

**OoOoO**

Kuzzey set a steaming mug of tea down in front of him as Sai reclined on a decidedly warm couch. Carrying the other in his hand, the dark-haired teen blew lightly on the top, sipping briefly at the hot liquid inside.

"My favorite," Sai sighed as he took a sniff of the tea, noting how it was exactly how he liked it.

"I know," Kuzzey gave a warm smile.

The two sat in silence, merely sipping at their tea. Sai took this time to see the changes that time had taken in his friend over the months. He had grown taller, though not by much, but his skin had gotten a bit paler. It now matched his own, having spent many days and nights working inside and then inside the Archangel. Kuzzey had slight bags under his eyes and now dressed even more casually than he did on Heliopolis, but there jovial and kind air around him was still there.

He was glad that some things didn't change.

"What are you doing here?" asked Kuzzey softly, setting his mug down on the table.

Sai opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated. Would Kuzzey really like to hear the truth? Had the other teen even remembered that promise he had made to him, right at their last meeting together in the Archangel?

"I'm keeping my promise," he said, opting for the truth. "You—You're obviously not dead and I said that we'd meet once this was all over, right?"

Kuzzey looked surprised before his face melted into a warmth that few things could compete with. "Yeah, I remember. I thought..."

"...that it was an empty condolence?" Sai raised an eyebrow, false hurt filling his face. "Trust a little more, okay?"

The other teen blushed guiltily, red spreading over his face like wildfire. "Sorry."

The two fell back into another silence, though this one comfortable.

It was Kuzzey who broke it again, saying, "How's the gang?"

"Captain Ramius is..." Sai struggled to find the words, distracting himself with his orange glasses before sighing and continuing, "...mourning. We lost Major La Flaga in the last battle and were forced to shoot down Lieutenant Badgiruel in battle." Noticing Kuzzey's shocked look but feeling the need to continue, Sai went to the next person. "Miriallia is dating that Buster pilot, Dearka Elthman. She's helping in the rebuilding of Orb, but she wants to be a photographer. Kira..." Sai suddenly found a lump in his throat and he looked away from Kuzzey's face, unable to keep contact. "Kira... He's... He's quiet, even quieter than he was back when he came back. He watched Fllay's lifeboat be destroyed right in front of his eyes and... He isn't the Kira we knew, not anymore." He looked back at Kuzzey, tears at the edges of his eyes.

"You liked him, the old him, didn't you?" Kuzzey asked softly as he stood, walking closer to his friend.

A few tears slipped down Sai's face as Kuzzey enclosed the blond in his embrace.

It was there that Sai finally cried.

**OoOoO**

The pair entwined their fingers, Kuzzey resting on Sai's broader chest. Over time, Sai had grown to be larger than the other teen, though it was less apparent considering Sai's technologically slanted abilities.

"You kept your promise," spoke the dark-haired teen with a smile.

"Yes, I did," Sai answered with his own.

The two continued to listen to the news and the various reiterations of both the EA and ZAFT, taking each account with a grain of salt. Having been and worked with people hurt badly by both the Blue Cosmos-infiltrated EA and the ZAFT's Zala Faction, neither really trusted what was being said.

"I want to help them again," Kuzzey spoke up, his voice slightly muffled by the fact that his face was in Sai's chest. "I want to help them again."

Sai looked down, searching Kuzzey's brown eyes. Inside, he found a maturity that hadn't been present two years ago and a passion tempered only by his innate kindness.

"Even at the risk of becoming like Tolle?" Sai needed to make sure, invoking the name of their fallen friend.

"Even at that risk," he confirmed. Kuzzey's face was strong as he said, "I don't want to see them die without me trying to help them."

"This will ruin the lives that we've built for ourselves," he reminded again. This wasn't something that one could just jump into and Sai wanted to make sure that Kuzzey wanted to do this—he'd support him whichever path he took.

Kuzzey paused for a moment but quickly replied with, "I know and I'm sure."

"Let's go to Orb. I still remember where the hidden hangar is, which is where Archangel probably is. We can meet up with them there."

Sai and Kuzzey walked around, putting things in order.

The things they've seen, the things they've heard—neither allowed them, even the one who had left at Orb, to allow their friends to go unaided.

It just had to be.

Before they'd been in the shadows, out of sight, but they were ready to help again.

Sai looked out into the sky and felt that something was on the horizon.

A message had been sent out ahead of them to Orb, encoded for the Archangel.

_All began at the sun city where five met the white angel. One fell to the red knight, another left at the sphere. The third became the rose free into the sky, the fourth started capturing slices of life, and the last left for the shadows. The missing aim to aid once more. Two from the past seek the white angel._

**OoOoO**

Yay for the crack pairing of Sai/Kuzzey. Tons of unrequited Sai/Kira-ness. I felt that if Fllay hadn't existed, Kira and Sai would have probably gotten together in the first part of the series, but that's just me. I was just annoyed at the lack of Sai past Phase 20 of Destiny because he was one of my favorite characters. Brownie points to people who can decipher the last line.

**Revised since original posting.**


End file.
